Running in circles
by Blaze77
Summary: Post secret invasion. As the gang returns to LA, a new threat emerges, and they realize the Pride is far from gone. With the Runaways still recovering from their adventures in New York, can they stay together when old enemies threaten to tear them apart?


Chase Stein, Nico Minoru, Victor Mancha, Xavin and Chase's dinosaur, Old Lace, all sat on top of a building. They watched the streets below erupt with chaos as an extremely pale man hovered up and down the side walk, attacking people.

"His name is Morbius, the Living Vampire." Victor stated. "He's an irradiated, vampire like human, according to your parent's old database, anyways."

"Damn," Chase moaned. "If only Karolina wasn't home taking care Molly, then we could have Dracula here suck her blood."

"Excuse me?" Xavin said threateningly, her arm turning orange and rocky.

"No dice, Chase." Nico interrupted. "This freak isn't like Topher. He's not an actual vampire. So an overdose of Sunny-D isn't going to work this time. In fact, I don't think we're really equipped to fight this guy tonight. With Molly home sick, and Karolina and Klara stuck taking care of her, we're a little low on girl power as it is. Plus, Chase forgot his new Fistigons."

"Well, I'm not used to taking them into battle, alright. All I've had for so long is Lace, I keep forgetting to grab them."

"I think we should combat him now." Xavin threw in. "The longer we wait, the more innocent people die. Karolina wouldn't like that." 

Victor nodded. "As much as I hate to admit it, Nico, Dr Jekyll/Mrs. Hyde is right. We gotta stop this guy now."

**Remnants of the Old Hostel**

"This freakin sucks!" Molly whined. "Why'd I have to get a fever? The others are probably out fighting monkey men are something cool, and I'm stuck in here."

Molly lay on her bed, staring angrily at the ceiling, which looked as if it was going to cave in. Klara sat on a chair next to her bed, having fallen asleep an hour earlier.

"Cheer up, Molly," Karolina smiled as she walked into the room, carrying a bowl of soup. "I'm sure the other guys are having a pretty uneventful night."

**Downtown **

"Hey, Nosferatu! Halloween was, like, months ago!" Nico yelled as the runaways ran at Morbius. The Vampire turned, intrigued. Xavin still looked human, but one of her hands was on fire, while the other was in it's Thing state. Electricity danced from Victor's hands warningly, and Chase had a hand on Old Lace's back, as the Deinonychus growled menacingly. Nico stood at the head of the group, hovering slightly, but currently unstaffed. 

"The Prides kin, yes? I've been expecting you," Morbius laughed.

"Were you expecting this?" Xavin asked, sending a wave of fire at Morbius. It was a direct hit. 

"That was anti-climactic." Chase said.

"Not really," Victor added. Morbius was still standing, the burns on him healing rapidly. "That tickled." 

"You grow skin back, huh? Let's see if you can grow your arms back too." Chase yelled, and Old Lace ran at Morbius. The villain dodged the dinosaur, and began laughing. "What did you think you'd achieve from that?"

"10 seconds of your attention," Chase stated simply. Xavin appeared behind Morbius, encasing the vampire in a semi-visible bubble. "You're done," she said darkly. 

"Hardly," Morbius laughed, and held out his hand. "Why don't you let me out of here?" Xavin's eyes became blank, and slowly, she turned, and threw a fireball directly at the group.

"Whoa! What the hell is wrong with you, Spock?!" Chase yelled as Victor sent bolts of electricity at Xavin, who made a force field around herself. Victor sent a steady flow of electricity at Xavin, who kept the force-field up. Now they were in a battle to see who's will power would last longer. 

"Chase, switchblade!" Nico called. 

"On it," he said, drawing his switchblade and slashing it across the back of Nico's hand in one fluid motion. **"****When Blood is shed, let the Staff of One emerge!****"** Nico's staff emerged from her chest, but before she could cast a spell, Morbius had dashed at her, lifting her off the ground by the throat, causing the staff to fall to the ground. Old Lace ran at the vampire, who merely kicked her in the face, causing both her and Chase to collapse to the ground in pain. 

"I will feast on your blood, girl."

"As odd as it sounds, you aren't the first guy to tell me that," Nico raised her hand weakly, and the Staff of One flew into her hands. Before Morbius could do anything, Nico pointed it at him and cried **"****Bees!****" **

Bee's erupted from the end of the staff, causing Morbius to release Nico and stumble backwards. Xavin, with a surge of determination, had sent the force field around her crashing into Victor, knocking him unconscious.

"**Xavin, get your head in the game!**" Nico yelled, her staff glowing. Xavin shook her head, confused. "What happened?"

"Later. Right now I need help putting Dracula back in his coffin," Nico nodded at Morbius, who was getting back to his feet. 

"Die, Creature!" Xavin roared, sailing at Morbius and punching him in the ribs with a rocky fist. The second blow connected with his head, and the vampire crumpled, knocked out.

"Another one bites the dust," Nico said, turning towards Victor. "You Okay?"

Victor groaned as Xavin helped him to his feet. "No permanent damage, but Xavs over here nearly flattened me."

"I apologize. I lost myself for a bit. That thing must've been controlling me." Xavin said weakly, obviously ashamed. "Chase?"

"Still in one piece, but Topher Senior over their broke Lace's nose like a piñata, which means he broke my nose too."

"I can use a spell," Nico said, raising the Staff of One, and pointing it at Chase's blood drenched face. "**Good as new!**" Chase's nose immediately snapped back into place, all signs of blood or bruising vanishing. Likewise, Lace's nose healed as well. Chase felt his face. "Perfect, thanks Minoru. Now let's cheese it before the Po-9 get here. And on the way home, we're so hitting an In-N-Out burger."

**The Old Hostel - 10:15 pm**

After cloaking the Leapfrog in the woods nearby, Nico and the others, each with bags of take-out in their arms, entered a cave leading to the Hostel. Since Iron Man had found their old hideout, the kids needed a new one, so, after returning from New York, they decided to go check out their original hideout, the one Nico had nearly buried back when Alex was still on their team. After a couple of well placed spells had been cast, courtesy of the Staff of One, of course, Nico was able to repair the basic structure of the place, so their was no risk of it collapsing on them again. 

"We're home!" Chase called, pulling a burger out of the bag and tossing it into OL's mouth. "And dinner is served." 

"God, I'm so tired of them forgetting the pickles," Victor groaned from his seat. 

"You guys are a bit late," Karolina said, flying into the room, Xavin giving Karolina her salad. "The girls passed out a little while ago."

"Yeah, well, more for us!" Chase smirked, going for the girls bag. Nico grabbed it before he could. "

"Not so fast. Chase, we're truant teens without jobs, so money is particularly scarce. "this could be their lunch tomorrow!"

"Nico, we don't have a refrigerator!" Chase laughed.

"He's got a point, Nic. That'll go bad by tomorrow."

"Okay," she said, and bit into her finger. The staff emerged yet again from her chest, and she pointed it at one of the more demolished parts of the room. "**Kitchen!**" The rubble vanished, and in it's place was a nice, fully equipped kitchen, stocked with a microwave, fridge, stove, sink, cupboards, ect. Karolina looked puzzled. 

"How does any of this stuff work without electricity or gas or anything?"

"It's magic, K," Chase stated, merrily taking a seat at the new kitchen table. "Don't question it."

"That was a big spell, Nico. How'd you manage it?"

"I picked up a thing or two from my Grandmother during our Doctor Who-ish vacation."

"Oh," Victor stated sadly, turning away slightly. He still hadn't gotten over the girl he had met back in 1907. Lillie McGurty had easily captured Victor's heart. However, not only did she ruin his and Nico's relationship, but she had left Victor heartbroken when she had refused to come to the future with them. Especially since he knew she had spent the rest of her life living in misery and regret. Nico tried to say something comforting, but was interrupted by an excited Chase.

"Dudes, we got a blender! A blender, man! Tomorrow night is so smoothie night!"

**Santa Monica Beach - 12:00 Midnight**

A young couple walked the beach, holding hands blissfully. They had just gotten engaged earlier that night, and were simply enjoying each other. However, just as they found a spot were they might be able to get "comfortable," the water began to bubble rapidly and started glowing white. The curious couple approached the water cautiously, as it began to swirl a bit. Suddenly, the white glow turned into a large flash, temporarily blinding the two, until the water returned to normal, and the light had vanished. A hand shot out from under water, grabbing hold of the man's wrist as a head surfaced next, looking panicked and confused.

"Please, you have to tell me where I am? Where are we?!"


End file.
